Leveling machine



F. B. KEALL ET AL LEVELING MACHINE Filed May 15. 1922 Fig: 2. 24

7? //VZ/EN7'UH5- Patented Dec. 1, 1925.

NTED

FATENT FFEQE.

FRANK IBYCROFT KEALL ANDWVILFRID THOMAS MINETT, OF LEICESTER, ENGLAND,

ASSIGNORS TO UNITED SHOE llfEAGHINEBY CQRPORATIQN, OFIEATERSON, NEW JER-SEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

:tnvntine MACHINE.

Application filed May 15, 1922. Serial No. 561,201.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK B. KEALL and VVILFRID T. hilrnn'r'r. subiectsof the King of England, and residing at Leicester, Leicestershire,England, have invented certain Improvements in Leveling Machines, ofwhich the following description, in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawingsindicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to the supporting of boots or shoes (hereinafterreferred to generically as shoes) during the operation of leveling thesole and is concerned eXclusively with providing for leveling the soleof a shoe by a shaped bottom-pressing form while the shoe is on the lastas distinguished from the customary practice of leveling shoes by such aform while there is no last in the shoe but a mere metal foot formingpart of the machine.

In making a welt shoe it is desirable to avoid withdrawing the last fromthe shoe until as late a stage in manufacture as possible andconsequently leveling machines are in common use for this class of workin which the shoe, on the last, is jacked and operated on by means whichinsome meas ure accommodates itself to the last bottom. The limits ofstrength met with in lasts and in jacks for lasts and the uncertainty ofat taining a definite position of the shoe bot tom with shoes supportedby jacks have imposed serious limits on the pressure which such amachine could be arranged to apply and the development has proceededalong the line of pressures locally applied over small areas and movingfrom place to place. Thus the total pressure applied is not beyond thestrength of the last or the machine, and the maximum pressure per unitarea may be kept at the point desired. Such machines (which aregenerally of the roller type) have, for some kinds and conditions ofwork. the disadvantages that the leveling does not occur between thelast bottom and a replica of it, since a leveling roll is not theequivalent of a replica of the last bottom, and further, the shoecannot, as a whole, be kept under pressure long enough to treat eachpart of it thoroughly without e1nharassing slowness of operation.Consefl y in new to t e lev n Op rat n involving the steps of jackingand unjacking. under certain conditions after-treatment has commonlybeen required to touch up the bottom of the shoe to supplement theaction of the machine.

In making a McKay-sewn or screwed or nailed shoe the last is withdrawnfor the performance of various bottoming operations preceding the soleleveling and consequently advantage may be taken of this fact to supportthe shoe internally by a massive support or iron foot when leveling soas to permit heavy and relatively long-continued pressure over aconsiderable part of the shoe bottom at once without, however, undulyslowing up the leveling, and this has led to the general use for suchwork of so-called direct pressure levelers in which the leveling occursbetween a metallic foot inserted in the shoe and a mold or form of theshape desired for the shoe bottom. l/Vhile this sys tem permits the useof heavy pressures the leveling is still performed between parts oneonly of which is a reproduction of the shape desired, since the metallicfoot necessarily falls much short of being a full reproduction of thelast. On the other hand, the distortion to which this class of work issubject as the result of the withdrawal of the last preparatory to thebottoming operations and, particularly, of the special bottom-attachingoperations themselves, necessitates the high pressures which this classof machine permits and renders unsuitable the only type of levelingmachine known prior to the present invention which can perform levelingdirectly on the last, namely that first above discussed.

In view of the foregoing, an important object of this invention is toprovide for effecting the leveling operation upon the wooden last in amachine of the direct pressure type such as, for example, is describedin said patents, or any other direct pressure leveling machine. Thiswill allow the use for any class of shoe of an adequate pressure, owingto the type of machine used, a proper application of the pressure at allparts, owing to the leveling being performed between the last bottom anda form which is the replica of it, and the application of the pressurefor a considerable time, without disadvantageously prolonging theleveling operation, since the pressure is applied over consjidep.

able area of the shoe bottom at once instead of being limited to a smallarea and carried progressively Over the shoe.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved organizationconstructed and arranged so that the operator may readily place a shoe(on a last) in operative re lation to the bottom treating means of aleveling machine and so that, without the necessity of his performingany other act than the placing of the shoe in the supporting means, theshoe will be correctly posi tioned and supported during the levelingoperation.

To the accomplishment of'these objects the invention comprises as onefeature, in or stitute it a cradle as herein understood.

for locating the last for the operation; and

These properties are (a) T hat the last when placed in the sup portisforthwith firmly held thereby against levelingpressure without callingfor clamping or adjustment, given that the proper worksupport for thesize or style of last is presentwin the machine or that the PTOPCL'adjustment of an adjustable work support has previously been made.

(b) That the ,work is located or steadied by the worksupport exclusivelyby contacts with the external surfaces of the last (or withthe shoeupper on said surfaces) as distinct from the location or steadying ofthe last engagement of a member in its lastainihole.v

(0% That the work support includes a forepartrest having an extensivearea of contact with the top of the last-not only in the bottom of thehollow behind the toe and forward of this location but also rearward ofthis location, which whole area has been carefully molded substantiallyto the precise shape of this portion of the shape of last to be dealtwith;

(d) That a last pinis not depended upon (6) That the last is steadiedfor the leveling without heavy'strains being put upon a last-pin.

A. further-feature of the invention consists inthe provision in amachine for leveling the-bottom of-a shoe by the action of a shapedbottonnpressing form, of a Work support adapted to sustain in properposition againstthe leveling pressure .a shoe up- .on a last andcomprising correlated means to effect adjustments ofthe support so asrespectively to maintain substantially unvaried one or both of (c) therelative aspect of approximate parallelism of the shoe bottom and form,and (Z2) the relative h, tndinai position of the shoe as a whole and ofthe form, with changing sizes of shoes.

The invention is herein illustratively set forth as embodied in a directpressure level.-

ing machine of the type shown and dc- Figure 1 is a side elevation ofone form of a shoe support according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Figure is a sectional elevation on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

in he construction illustrated, the outer end of thefoot-carryingcylindrical shank 11 of the leveling machinedescribed inthe cited patents is modified to have or to receive at its outer end asupporting face or foot 12, substantially at right angles to the axis ofthe shank, on which face is fixed a cast metal cradle13 to supporttheshoe ll in opposed positionto the shaped pressureform A. The face may beeither formed on the top of a block clamped by any coir-enient means tothe shank 11 or may be fori ied on a block or supporting member 4; in.tegral with the shank 11 according as it is deemed likely thatsupporting feet may be required to be used interchangeably with. thecradle. andthen'iass of interchangeable partsis therefore sought tobercduced. The cradle is fixed to the face by two bolts .15 pivoted inrecesses 16 formed in the support ing member1ton pinsl'? pa allel to andbelow the face 12 and held by the recesses against movement on theirpivots lengthwise of the shoe. The bolts 15 have at their outer endsnuts 18 and washers 19 which engage over slotted lugs formed on thecradle, and thereby determine the longitiu'linal position of ,the cradlerelatively to the form. By slackening the nuts and swinging the boltsabout their pivots the cradle is quickiy released. The cradle ispositioned transversely on the face by a tongue 20 on the cradle whichenters a groove formed in the face 12 longitudinally of the shoe.

The cradle is open at the top and is lined with a comparatively thin andunyielding layer 21-,o'f'felt or other resilient material (say of aquarter of an inchthiclmess) the PULPOSC' of-tl'iis-lining being not somuch to afford accommodation to the last and shoe l3 evident as tosecure a frictional grip on the leather without damage thereto. Theactual positioning of the shoe is due almost exclusively to the form ofthe metal cradle which is shaped internally to conform closely to theshape of the top of the last which. it is to support. At the forepartthe cradle is closed at its underside and is intended to engagesubstantially the whole of the top of the last but towards the heel endan opening is formed to allow the cone of the last to projectdownwardly. The side walls of the cradle, however, may extendcontinuously all around the shoe, and will in any event preferablyembrace the lateral and terminal portions of the heel, sothat there isunbroken support along a longitudinal band on the surface of the lastfrom one side to the otherof the last around the heel end incontinuation of the support afforded by the complete cradle at theforepart.

The cone of the last is supported on the tabular top of a post 22 whichis adjustably mounted in a rectilinear guideway 23 formed on the blocklat aforementioned. Any jack pin is preferably omitted. The guideway 23extends in a direction lengthwise of a shoe on the cradle 13 and isinclined upwardly towards the toe end of the cradle so that when acradle is fixed on the block 14 and the post 22 moved along the guideway23 according to the size of the cradle the post will be raised orlowered, thereby maintaining contact between it and the cone of the lastwhich, with changing sizes, comes at different heights from the block 14as well as at different positions along it. The post 22 may convenientlyhave pivotally connected to it one end of a link 24 the other end ofwhich has projecting through it a pin 25 the ends of which may bereceived in alined slots or grooves 26 formed in the face 27 of thecradle 13 and acting as bearings for the pin ends. The position of theslots 26 in the face 27 varies according to the size of the cradle, andwhen a cradle is changed for one of a different size the pin 25 in thelink 24 is placed in engagement with the slots 26 in the cradle as thecradle is placed in position and the post 22 is thereby correctlypositioned along the inclined guideway 23 according to the size of thecradle. The operator is therefore relieved from the necessity ofattention e to the position of the post which is determined entirely bythe angular disposition of the guideway and the definite and correlatedposition of the slots in the various cradles.

Each cradle is shaped to the particular style of shoe which it is tosupport and it is found that each cradle will el'lieiently support shoeof two sizes of the same style, the cradle being shaped to fit closelythe larger of the two sizes For example, in a run of shoes of the samestyle and of sizes from six to eleven, three cradles would be required,one for sizes six and seven, one for eights and nines, and one for tensand elevens.

The present invention thus provides for the leveling of welted workbetter and more completely in the one operation than is possible withthe practice heretofore used and the consequent avoidance of much of theafter-treatment customary under it. v Again, the invention provides forthe employment of a single type of machine for classes of work (that iswelted and McKay work) for which different types of. machines have beennecessarily employed heretofore.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a levelingmachine for leveling the bot-tom of a shoe while on a last by the use ofa shaped bottom-pressing form, a cradle formed in accordance with theexternal surface of the portions of the last received by the cradlewherein the shoe rests during the leveling thereof, and means forapplying pressure between the form and the cradle.

2. In a machine for leveling the bottom of a shoe by pressure deliveredby a shaped,

bottom-pressing form, a work support adapted to sustain a shoe upon alast in proper position against the leveling pressure, and comprisingcorrelated means for effecting adjustments of the support so asrespectively to maintain substantially unvaried the relative aspect ofthe shoe bottom and form.

3. In a machine for leveling the bottom of a shoe, a shapedbottom-pressing form, and a work support adapted to sustain a shoe upona last in proper position against the leveling pressure and comprisingcorrelated means for effecting adjustments of the support so asrespectively to maintain substantially unvaried the relativelongitudinal position of the shoe as a whole and the form with changingsizes of shoes.

4. In a machine for leveling the bottom of a shoe, a shaped bottompressing form, a

work support having generally the contour of the upper front part of thelast, and a block for supporting the cone of the last.

5. In a machine for leveling the bottom of a shoe, a shaped bottompressing form, a work support having generally the contour of theupperfront part of the last. and a block for supporting the cone of the last,the block being adjustable longitudinally, of the shoe.

6. In a machine for leveling the bottom of a shoe, a shaped bottompressing form, a work support having generally the con tour of the upperfront part of the last, and a block for supporting the Cone of the ill)last, the block being adjustable longitudinally and Vertically of theshoe to place its cone contacting surface at the proper height'for lastsof different sizes.

7. In a machine for leveling the bottom of a shoe, a shapedbottompressing form, a WOl'k support having generally the contour of theupper front part of the last, and a block for supporting the cone of thelast, and a sloping guidway along which the block is adjustable to fitdifferent sized lasts.

8. In a machine for leveling the bottom of a shoe, a shaped bottompressing form, a work support having generally the corn tour of theupper front part and the lateral heel portion of the last, and a blockfor supporting the cone of the last.

9. In a machine for leveling the bottom of a shoe, a shaped bottompressing form,

In testimony whereof We have signed our 7 names to this specification.

FRANK BYCROFT KEALLJ '1 LFRID THOMAS l HNl'i'ilL.

